In the most delighful way
by Firenze Minroud
Summary: Let me introduce you Sarah. She is just a reader, just a student, just a teenager: just an ordinary girl. But all the extraordinary stories started being ordinary stories, don't they? Listen. Someone is knocking at the door. Do you want to open it?
1. Chapter 1

_"My kingdom for an umbrella_"

Sarah looked outside the window. It was the last class hour of one cold winter day in Chester, and pouring rain fell. There was no chance for the rain to stop soon.

The girl had lent her umbrella to Charlie, her brother, who was in primary school, and she had to deal with the consequences.

Sarah Matthews was girl of medium height, and she wasn't skinny at all. She wasn't fat, either. Sarah had long, light brown hair and hazelnut eyes, with green lines.

Miss. Matthews paid attention to Mrs. Jackson's chemistry class, and when the alarm finally sounded, she felt happy and annoyed at the same time. When it rained, the humidity made her hair frizzy and very difficult to brush.

Sarah and her friend Claire, a tall blonde girl with blue eyes, started to walk to their houses. Sarah didn't know Claire very well, but she had an umbrella and that was the important thing. Anyway, the relief didn't last a long time: just after leaving the high school's enclosure, a tiny white car stopped beside them.

"Oh, it's my aunt! I'm sorry, Sarah, there's only place for one of us."

"Don't worry, Clare. I live near here, and I have a hood."

"Oh, O.K.! See you tomorrow!"

In fact, Sarah lived rather far from there, but she didn't want to become a nuisance. Sarah pulled her hood closer to her face and sighing, she started to walk home with her hands in her pockets.

"Do you need an umbrella, Miss.?"

Sarah looked up. She was surprised.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Robertson! How are you?"

Daniel Robertson was the owner of a book shop where Sarah used to go when she was younger, but he'd sold it a few years ago. He was an old man, with square face, short hair and bright blue eyes, a little bit taller than the girl. He covered Sarah gently with a black umbrella.

"I'm pretty well, Sarah. And how are you? It's been ages since the last time I saw you."

"I'm very busy with high school and stuff."

"Do you still write? Come on, you house is on my way."

"Yes, I write, but I write less. Lots of work."

"I could have guessed that. And Charlie, does he keep on refusing reading?"

"That lazy child? In the end I've encourage him to open a book."

"Really? And what happened?"

"He left his video game for it," Sarah said, in a serious voice. "It was love at first sight."

Daniel laughed.

"It had to be actually hard."

"Oh, it was. You couldn't guess it. I had to read with him until he finally resigned to do it by himself."

"Do you read with him now?"

"One hour per day, usually. Charlie can spend more time reading," she said, with an air of envy.

"And you can't?"

"Exactly," she sighed.

"Do you know what you are going to do when you finish high school?"

Sarah shook her head. She had a few plans of what she wanted to study in her mind, but she didn't know which choose.

Mr. Robertson listened to Sarah, and Sarah listened to Mr. Robertson. Sarah forgot the bad weather and arrived at home much sooner than she thought because Mr. Robertson's conversation made time pass quickly.

"Thank you so much for walking home with me. I hope to see you soon, Mr. Robertson."

"Oh, you're welcome, you're welcome," he answered, as he walked away seeming distracted.

Sarah went up the stairs of her flat building, leaving path of wet footprints. The lift didn't work, unfortunately. A few slips later, she arrived at the door of her flat. Charlie opened the door when he noticed the sound of the key in the keyhole.

"Hey, Sarah! Why did it take you so long to get home? Mum has gone to work and dad hasn't arrived yet, and your food is going to get cold!"

"Hello, nipper!"

Charlie was an eight-year-old child who was always smiling. He had curly blonde hair and the same hazel eyes as Sarah. His sister thought that he was the most handsome boy in the world.

"Pasta!" Sarah exclaimed, just after leaving her soaked schoolbag in her bedroom. "Mmm!" she said, smelling the homemade lasagna plate.

"Mum said that you can heat it up if it's cold," Charlie yelled from the living room.

In fact, the children's mother usually put the meals rather hot on the table, so it was still warm. The girl ate quickly and she decided to rest a bit before doing homework.

Sarah lay on the couch, reading, for about a half an hour, but then she started to feel guilty and she went to do her homework. Five minutes after opening her book, shout from Charlie distracted her.

"Sarah! SARAH! SAAAARAH! Do you want to see Mary Poppins?"

"Oh, Charlie," she sighed "I'm busy. I can't watch any films now."

"But Sarah, it's Mary Poppins. You _cannot_ miss the chance."

"My God, Charlie," She said, as she turned off the MP3 player "We have the movie on DVD. I'm doing my Maths homework, and I have to finish them."

Charlie didn't try to call her again, but a little later, someone opened Sarah's bedroom door.

"I am not going to watch Mary Poppins unless she can explain to me trigonometry," Sarah said, without bothering to look at her brother.

"You are behaving in a pretty rude way, young lady."

She bounced in her chair, and she turned to the door. It was actually Mary Poppins, staring at her with a penetrating look upon her face. She wasn't disguised, or Julie Andrews. Anyway, it would have been very strange if Julie Andrews appeared in a Chester flat suddenly, but reality is often more strange than stories, because the woman who was looking at Sarah was Mary Poppins. The _real _Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins wore a long black coat, which was opened, so Sarah could see the white shirt that she wore under the coat, and her dark blue trousers. Mary Poppins also wore her characteristic shoes, she carried her bird umbrella and she looked a little bit disgusted.

Sarah stood up as quickly as she could and, in quite a low voice, she said "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"That would be rather nice, thank you," answered Mary Poppins in a firm voice.

The girl nodded and went to the kitchen. Charlie was jumping all around the flat: he seemed very excited.

"Stop behaving like a happy ape, Charles," Mary Poppins said, as she put her coat on one of the kitchen chairs. Sarah thanked God for having the idea of cleaning the kitchen just before going to read. "In the name of heaven, Sarah, please tell me that you know how to make tea properly."

"Yes, ma'am," the two siblings said at the same time.

Mary Poppins and Charlie sat, but Sarah didn't until the tea was ready, and she waited a few minutes saying nothing.

"Ehrm…Ma'am…"

"I am not 'ma'am', Sarah. I'm Mary Poppins."

"Mary Poppins," Sarah corrected herself. "Why have you come here?"

"Why not?"

"Well, we haven't inquired for a nanny. We don't actually need a nanny."

"Don't you want me to be here?"

"Of course!" said Sarah, who had just burned her tongue on the hot tea. "But it's a really unexpected honor."

Mary Poppins sighed deeply, and, as the thing she was going to say damaged her pride, she answered, "I need the help of you two."

"But…why us?" Sarah asked. She was even more surprised than before.

"Oh, child, are you going to ask questions about every single thing? The curiosity killed the cat, don't you know?"

"I'm not a cat," the girl answered, without thinking beforehand.

Mary Poppins looked at her like she was bothering her in an incredible way.

"Keep silent, Sarah. I'd like to drink my tea in peace."

Sarah sighed and she finished her tea. Poppins took her time and finally she left the empty cup on the table.

"Dad is coming soon, Sarah," the boy whispered to his sister.

"He is going to be late today," Mary Poppins said.

"Mary Poppins," Charlie said "Why do you need our help?"

"Charles," she said "I don't need your help. I needed someone's help, and the wind has taken me to your house."

Sarah looked at her with a sad look on her face. She knew the nanny could be sassy and sarcastic, but she had never been rude.

"What's the matter, Mary Poppins?"


	2. Chapter 2

"You know me well, don't you?"

Sarah nodded.

"And do you know the reason?"

"The film," answered Charlie.

"Oh, Charlie, don't be such an…" Sarah stopped talking because of Mary Poppins' furious look. Sarah blushed. "The books," the girl said, "We know you because of the books."

"The books," Poppins repeated. "The marvelous books by Mrs. Pamela Travers."

"Then you've come out from the pages of a book," Charlie said.

"No, Charles. I'm in a book, but I'm not from a book. It isn't the same thing, do you understand?"

The children looked like they didn't understand, but they nodded anyway.

"But, if the books disappeared, I would disappear too."

It was too much for them then. Sarah thought that her brain was about to stop working since the strange things Poppins had said. Wasn't she contradicting herself?

"I'm not contradicting myself," Mary Poppins said, apparently reading Sarah's mind. "They are difficult concepts and they can cause misunderstanding. But I don't expect you to understand everything, because there's no need for that."

Sarah stared at her with a poker face.

"I need you to help me because someone is trying to delete stories."

"To delete stories? But how?"

"Making it impossible for their authors to write the stories. This is not a silly thing, although it may look like it."

"Why are you involved in this?"

"Pamela warned me," said Mary Poppins, as she stood up and put on her coat.

"Pam… I mean Mrs. Travers warned you?"

"That's what I said," the nanny replied.

"H...How?"

"There are many ways of communicating between a writer and some people," she answered, as she put the empty cups in the sink. "I have to go now. Your father is about to arrive. I need your help, but today is Thursday, and I don't want you to be tired for school in the morning. I'll come again tomorrow evening. I know your parents are going out."

Mary Poppins picked up her umbrella and she said, "I don't need you to come with me to the door. Go and do your homework."

Obviously, Sarah and Charlie didn't do what Mary Poppins told them to. They followed her until she reached the main door of the building. Outside, it was still raining hard, and there was no one in the street.

"I will see you soon," said Mary Poppins. Then, she opened her umbrella and she flew up into the sky.

"See you soon!" Charlie exclaimed.

"See you soon, Mary Poppins," Sarah yelled.

A cloud hid Mary Poppins a few seconds later.

"I hope that she doesn't get wet," Charlie sighed.

"Don't worry. She won't," his sister said, smiling. "We are talking about Mary Poppins, aren't we? Let's go upstairs, Charlie. We have nothing to do here."

The children entered their flat, and, as if nothing had happened, they went to do their homework. Their father arrived a little after that. He asked them about their day at school, and they told him that everything had gone as usual, as boring as usual. The rest of the day went just as usual as the school time, but secretly, they were more excited than in their whole lives. Sarah had a hard time concentrating on her homework, when she tried to write she ended up describing a new character who was exactly like Mary Poppins, and when she went out to take a walk, she couldn't help but look at the grey sky every five minutes, searching for Mary Poppins involuntarily.

There's no need to say that both Charlie and Sarah didn't paid attention at all the following morning, but the teachers didn't attach much importance to it, because it was Friday. At half past seven, their parents went out to have dinner at a fancy restaurant the children hated.

At a quarter to eight, Mary Poppins appeared in the flat again. That time, she used the doorbell, and Charlie went immediately to open the door.

"Good evening, Charles."

"Good evening, Mary Poppins." He answered "How are you?"

Mary Poppins smiled briefly, "I'm pretty good, thank you. Can I enter your house?"

"Yes, yes, absolutely," said Charlie, who was being rather delightful.

"Where is Sarah?"

"Oh, she is brushing her teeth for about the sixth time. She always does that when she is nervous."

"I can hear you, Charlie," shouted his sister


End file.
